Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Good Bye, Dear Friend


Update: this was the picture in the paper today. I believe it was the one from the church directory taken last fall. I remember seeing hers online and thinking how nice it looked.




Neva with Cinderella this past May
I lost a good friend today... I came home to a message on the phone.. Well, I didn't really LOSE Neva, because we all know where she is. What a great day she is having, reuniting with her husband, Norm, and their son, Dennis, one of those Vietnam boys who went home too early. I just talked to her yesterday on the phone. She called me and told me she had been practicing a song for our Songfest on Saturday. I had sent her a note and said we would welcome a break in singing, if she's like to play a number for us. Neva taught piano for years and years...I took for a year or two while I was in college and she let me play fun stuff and she was so sweet about it. We even played a duet - Billie Joel's Piano Man. She was awesome!! Neva was still playing for the church service at her retirement community, so I didn't hesitate to ask her to play...and yesterday she told me what song she was playing... How fitting....


Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow,
Follow, follow, follow, follow.


Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow,
Follow, follow, follow, follow.

Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
The fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember
And follow.



5 comments:

Rachel B. said...

I'm so sorry to hear that she past.

Conny said...

It's so nice that you got to talk to her just before her passing. I'm sure you'll keep good memories of her with you always.

That's the kind of song that sticks with you -- I remember learning to sing that song when I was in grade school. I'll be hearing it in my head all day.

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry for your loss, I know she was so special to you. We can grieve but know that we can rejoice also.
I told my mom and she was also sad to hear about her piano teacher.

Anonymous said...

Oh, sweetie! It sounds like she was so special to you. I'm terribly sorry for your loss, but also glad to see your lovely point of view regarding her reuniting with her loved ones.

Kevin Fardink said...

What a great lady Neva was. She taught me piano eons ago, and I always looked forward to the lessons each week simply because it was such a joy working with her. I have to say that she was instrumental in developing my love for music and the disciplin it took to study music. It is such a pity that she wasn't able to attend the concert honoring her son and the others who gave their lives for our country in Vietnam.